The differences between Dedicated Servers and VPS Servers

It is a common question that comes to our support desk every now and then: “What is the difference between a Dedicated Server and a VPS?” , “Does it worth going for a Dedicated server? Can a VPS server, instead, cover my needs?”. In this article I will try to unfold the main differences between a VPS and a Dedicated Server.

A dedicated server is a very secure way of hosting your website or database, without worrying about other account holders. In a dedicated server set-up, each server is run on its separate hardware installation; you will not share any resources with other servers or users.

A virtual private server or VPS is a method of hosting where multiple servers are running on a single hardware installation. This is achieved with some virtualization software that runs on top of the machines operating system. Other operating systems are then run on top of the virtualization software.

A VPS server is actually a “layer” created on one machine. For this reasons, VPS servers that run on the same machine might also be vulnerable to problems from one computer. Although there are measures and techniques to prevent this, on the rare chance that it does happen, all the servers on the same machine would also go down. This does not happen on dedicated servers as they operate on independent hardware and a single server going down would not affect others.

However, VPS hosting can be the first step from “leaving” shared hosting. Virtual Private Servers provide you with root level access to the server while having the simplicity of a shared hosting account. This is very useful for those who don’t have the experience, or time, to manage a dedicated server. Additionally, VPS hosting is usually cheaper than dedicated server hosting and that’s because dedicated servers usually have better hardware configurations.
VPS and Dedicated Servers have pros and cons. The perfect choice is taken after you consider both options and decide which hosting can match your requirements and budget.

So as a summary for the main differences between dedicated servers and vps servers:

1. Each dedicated server runs on a separate, dedicated, hardware while multiple VPS servers can run on a single hardware setup.

2. VPS makes use of virtualization so that it appears like a dedicated server.

3. VPS would cost much less than a dedicated server.

4. Servers on a VPS might be brought down because of a problem on another server. This doesn’t happen with dedicated servers.

5. Managing and maintaining a Dedicated Server requires more time and skills than a VPS does. If you lack of time and skills, then you should search for a hosting company providing Managed Dedicated Servers.

Sorry, but I'd say that the whole "article" is full of statement which are far from reality. It is just not true that "A dedicated server is a very secure way of hosting your website or database".

And on top of this your are doing self-promotion - "At Netshop-Isp.com.cy, we provide for free the Virtuozzo platform for the Linux VPS servers, and the SmarterBundle software for the Windows VPS Servers".

i have edited the post containing the url, you may remove it from your post as well. It was taken from our blog and I forgot to remove that manually. Thanks for mentioning it!

Regarding your statement about security, what I wanted to point out is that as the level of customization and "dedication" of hosting increases, the security is increasing as well.

Ofcourse, if the dedicated server is in the hands of an inexperienced webmaster/administrator and there is no managed hosting service provided by the hosting company, then it would end up with hundreds of vulnerabilities and insecure mods.

Depends Amjad on what website is it and how "heavy" you expect your database to be. For example, if you are planning to create a blog site, install wordpress with a standard database, you can even go for a shared web hosting package. Once your traffic increases and people start posting comments, you may need to upgrade to vps.

If your website will be an eshop, then you should go for a dedicated server from the very beginning... All decisions depend on your project planning...